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So, I have “officially” started my Flying Pig Training.
I had planned on penning how well it was going, how much progress I was making, and how great it felt to be getting this started.
But that, as it goes, is not how things are starting.
I managed to over-do my workout this weekend and as a naive result, have a pulled hamstring. I cannot run on said hamstring until it’s 110 percent. Instead, I am doing side workouts, working the core and what not, to pass the idle time.
On top of that, I spent the last two and half weeks fighting off a horrible cold/flu like illness. Can’t run when your sick, tried it. Not productive and made things worse.
My diet is sub par and it’s difficult to get it more in the realm of “healthy”. In retrospect, I’m the most new and naive marathon runner you could face, and how disheartening it is. Reality is never pleasant when it’s bad news.
My training is still idling at the starting line and it’s frustrating, because this isn’t how it was suppose to start, I was seeking that BANG, that momentum. Instead this week will pass as any other, I will plan out my training days and eagerly await the start that was meant for days past. My optimism sits quietly but not gone, I will prevail.
What else can I do? What else, indeed.
In recent years, mainstream companies and large businesses have been collaborating in order to help reduce the ever rising level of greenhouse gas emissions.
In order to provide incentive for their work in preserving the environment, mainstream investors and insurers are rewarding companies with improved risk management. Risk management, a required policy among most companies, is intended for reducing vulnerability by applying cost effective controls and selecting alternative responses to risk.
A company very familiar within my family, Shaklee, is one of the top leaders in environmental safety. The company has created environmental initiatives to address greenhouse gas emissions, global reforestation, and education about the environment. Some of their projects include:
- -Construction of The Rosebud Sioux Tribe Wind Turbine, the first large-scale Native American owned and operated wind turbine.
- -Transferring buses from diesel to bodies fuel in California and pushing for progress in other states.
- -Launching “A Million Trees. A Million Dreams.™” tree planting campaign, with the goal of planting a million trees in North America and Kenya. (Still in progress)
The Climate Leaders program is an industry-government partnership that works with a variety of companies, developing long term green house gas reduction strategies. The program involves taking inventory of the sources of greenhouse gas and within their own company, taking steps to reduce and most importantly, elating them.
Climate Leaders Partners represent a variety of areas, from heavy manufacturing to banking and retail. These companies all strive to set the standard for greenhouse gas management in their area and more broadly in the U.S. economy.
You can learn more about these programs by visiting www.shaklee.net/liberty.
Sources for article:Google Image Search, Lynn Morrisey-Forbes Magazine, Shaklee Corporation and the Environmental Protection Agency.
Sorry this has taken so long to get out, I’ve been quite sick with some kind of flu bug. Thanks to technical difficulties, I was also unable to insert the pictures, so here is a link to my album.
http://good-times.webshots.com/album/556961287PduSLJ
This past Sunday, January 7th, I had the honor to be on 55KRC radio, beign interview by Olympic runner Julie Isphording.
As it seems to go, it was a rainy day here in Cincinnati. Dad drove me (yes, working on getting the license, I swear!) to the Clear Channel studio, located near the downtown area.
As you can kind of see, it’s quite a building. Absolutely gorgeous inside, with a nice fountain and front desk. Just as I arrived, Julie walked in behind us. I can’t say enough how much of a sweet woman she is, absolutely amazing! Any nerves I had before were gone as soon as we started talking. We went up to the hall where the recording studios were, and they lined the entire hallway. We met with her producer, whose name escapes me but he was a very nice fellow. Then she took me into the green room (yes, it was actually green) and basically ran through the outline of the interview. I was also fortunate enough to get marathon advice from her and probably the best advice I’ll ever get- don’t make the marathon serious, have fun. Run for mileage, not speed. Since formulating proper sentences failed me, I didn’t squeak out more than a “thank you”. Here I was, in a green room, with an Olympic runner. Just chatting. Who’d of thought it?
We then headed into the recording studio, which as you will see in the picture below, is a decent size. Julie sat in front of Rick and I and immeditely let us both know that we needed to talk to the mic, not to her. From there, the interview went as you can/have heard. I didn’t entirely know what Julie was going to ask me, but it wasn’t anything that threw me off guard, obviously.
The power did go out during the interview, which had all of us looking at eachother like, “OH CRAP.” I was figuring we were on dead air, but Rick kept the interview going just in case. As it turns out, the backup generators kept us on air. Whew. Once the interview was over, I hugged Julie, thanked her again, and was on my way home-after making a detour at The Pancake House, of course. 
Oprah Winfrey is infamous for her generous donations to charities and work in the local community, but now, she’s pushed a little further and landed in Henly-On-Klip, Africa.
Africa in itself has been bombarded with red carpet personalities in the last few months-Bono, Madonna, and Bradgelina. But while they adopted and talked, Oprah helped create The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy For Girls.
The academy furnished with luxurious fireplaces and large closets, gives admittance to 12-13 year old girls, for free. 3,500 young African girls applied for 152 spots, the 500 finalists interview by Ms. Winfrey herself.
But controversey surfaced from a statement made by Oprah during her trip.
“Say what you will about the American educational system-it does work. If you are a child in the United States, you can get an education.” Winfrey goes on to insist that American children simply can’t appreciate what they have. “I became so frustrated with visiting inner city schools that I just stopped going. The sense that you need to learn just isn’t there. If you ask the kids what they want or need, they will say an iPod or some sneakers. In South Africa, they don’t ask for money or toys. They ask for uniforms so they can go to school.”
Hello Oprah! Did you ever consider that perhaps the inner city school kids in America need to be taught the difference between what they do and don’t need? Oh, no? Figured as much. Have you visited every single inner city school in the United States, talked to every student? Did they ALL really say the same thing? Is that a no? I thought so.
I realize the good Oprah has done for these 152 girls. I really do. It’s a fantastic thing that I’m sure will bring great benefits to the country in the long run, hopefully. But Oprah’s narrow minded comments about the American education supremely upset me. Her comments are general and completely off base.
Perhaps it is because I have pledged to help inner city schools that I find her comments so bothersome. Or because she scorns her own country when it isn’t needed at all. One can do good without having to bring another down.
But I guess she’s assuming that those she offended won’t even understand what she said.
